The Hidden One
by Biohazardouz
Summary: After ROR has lost the scare games, Randall struggles with his self-confidence. And then, as if he didn't have enough trouble already, one girl throws his whole world upside down. But she doesn't even notice him, at least, not the way he wants...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: Woo-hoo. For the first time in my life I actually wrote a chapter of more than 500 words. Ah well. I hope you'll enjoy this lil' fanfic-o'-mine.**

**Friendly reminder to the fact English is not my native language, so please don't be rude about my grammar. Thank you. :) Please review.**

"Guys..." Chet hopped around on his crab legs nervously, while keeping his eye focused on Johnny. "Is this legit?"  
"Of course it is," Johnny said with that trademark grin of his. "Everyone is allowed to leave the campus at night. Absolutely, completely legit."  
Not capable of understanding any kind of sarcasm, Chet turned around to look at the gate of the university to see if anyone else did the same, which was, obviously, not the case. When he turned around again, he saw his fellow ROR members were far ahead of him. He scuttled after them through the dark lane.  
"Please explain why we're leaving once more?", he asked no one in particular.  
Reggie suddenly seemed to loose his temper and turned around to face Chet.  
"Don't you understand?" he snapped, "No, you don't, of course! You never do! All we want is to be the popular guys, the cool guys! And guess what? We don't live up to that anymore after the Scare Games! We don't even come close! We-" He turned around, obviously bottling up his anger.  
"Look, Chet." Johnny lowered his pace and walked next to. "Losing the Scare games is like losing your face. People just... Never mind, that was a bad comparison. But we'll have to come up with something to regain popularity, so that other monsters don't see us as bad losers or anything. Understand that?"  
Chet nodded. "But why do we go to the River's forest then? It's creepy there." Even the thought of entering the dark forest made him shiver. He had been straining to find an excuse to stay in the fraternity house, without any results.  
Johnny sighed, keeping his annoyance hidden. "It's just... Nobody will be checking that area. It is a safe place to trade booze. Otherwise we'll never get that much before next week."  
"Oh yeah," Chet said with a wide grin, showing off his few teeth, "the party! The big fat party!" He practically started jumping up and down at the thought and his fraternity brothers were happy nobody else was around.

The notorious forest was on a 30 minute's walk from the university campus, and it kind of separated the center of Monstropolis from the suburbs. It occupied about five square miles and it was totally consisting of tall evergreens, which blocked the sunlight during the day and the moonlight during the night, and that was exactly the reason why it had been a popular location for parties that were, well, too rough to be hosted by one of the fraternities or sororities at their houses. Those 'parties' often got out of hand, ending up with tons of punch-ups and monsters getting wasted. About a decade or so ago it had gone totally wrong; a campfire had caused a huge wildfire which had burnt about fourty per cent of the forest.  
Ever since, any student gatherings, parties or not, had been forbidden by the local authorities, but they were unable to check whether this really happened. Still it only scarcely occured that a group of students would enter the forest, mainly because the still damaged forest was a real lugubrious place to be, especially at night.  
The member of the ROR franterniry were everything except cowards, but even they had to admit you didn't walk through the forest in a happy mood, it just had something gloomy, something depressing about it. Nevertheless they went to it. They were giving a big party at their fraternity house next week, because they wanted some of their reputation back after losing the scare games. Nobody wanted to talk about those. It had been a month ago, and in that month they had lost a lot of their popularity. A whole lot. And an unwritten rule in college was 'parties aren't good unless they have a lot of booze'. They couldn't possibly buy enough before next week, that would be too expensive, so they had to make a deal with students from another university, Fear Tech. Johnny knew a couple of guys there, and they were more than happy to trade their drinks, as long as the ROR guys would pay. It would be a whole lot less than buying it in a store of course, but at both universties alcoholic beverages were forbidden, so they decided to meet here. Johnny just had to rely on the fact they would show up.

They had entered the forest. The moon seemed to play hide-and-seek behind the clouds, it shone for a few seconds, casting weird shadows between the trees, then disappeared behind thick layers of clouds, being hidden for a few minutes. Chet had to scuttle fast to keep up with the other guys. Johnny, holding a flashlight, kept a fast pace at the front, behind him walked Javier and Reggie, arguing about the football competitions. Chip kind of walked behind them, looking back to Chet every now and then, to make sure he wasn't left behind. Randall sped up, slowed down, disappeared, sped up again and made sure to remember which way they went. He was really nervous, but he didn't show it.  
Chet, however, couldn't stop biting his lower lip and giggling. "H-how do we know the police aren't checking today? I mean, they never do, but..."  
Johnny stopped, slightly looking over his shoulder. "We don't, that's how." He continued walking. The others followed hesitantly and were silent. Even the argument between Reggie and Javier had stopped.  
Suddenly on their right the sound of quick footsteps over the ground sounded, somewhat muted by the fallen evergreen needles.  
"What was that?" Chet asked in a tiny voice.  
"Must've been Randall," Johnny said with a confident gesture into the direction of where the sound came from.  
"What?" Randal appeared behind the group. "I was here all the time. Not kidding."  
Chip swallowed thickly and Chet felt like peeing himself.  
Johnny took advantage of the situation.  
"Hey guys," he said, putting the flashlight under his face in the scary-storytelling way, "have you ever heard of the ghost of monstropolis?" The guys snickered a bit, but Chet didn't seem to catch it was just a joke. Reggie gave Javier a wink, then pointed at Chet.  
"Yes, yes, I have," he shouted, and with a mean look on Chet he continued: "It loves to eat crabs, especially one-eyed crabs with a maroon exoskeleton. He will first stalk them and then-"  
"_WRAAH_!" Exactly at that moment, Javier showed up behind Chet and roared.  
Chet fainted.  
The others laughed a bit forced, but Reggie and Javier really lost it. Chip helped Chet to get up. After a couple of minutes they had recovered from their laughter and the group decided to move on.  
The further they walked, the more Randall felt like something was watching them. It was an uncomfortable experience and he tried to stay in thew middle of the group as much as possible.  
Then the bushed on their right hand side moved. Johnny slowly turned his head to the right, then laughed. "Are you guys already scared?" he laughed. "Wait for this!" He turned the flashlight off and the darkness embraced them. The silence was incredibly loud. That sounded weird, Randall thought, but it happened more often. It was the kind of silence when you insulted someone with your friends around, and that person was standing right behind you, and you watched your friends all go silent with blank faces.  
"See?" Johnny said, "No big d-"  
Something fell out of a tree just in front of his feet and he gasped.  
Two red eyes glowed up in the darkness and a loud hissing sounded, a figure seemed to be rising from the ground. Reggie took hold of Javier's legs, Chet felt like fainting again and Chip totally froze. Randall disappeared.  
Johnny struggled to turn the flashlight on again, his fingers were shaking heavily, but he managed to push the switch and the white bundle of light blinded them all for a few seconds.  
A white monster of medium height was standing there, holding their arms protectively in front of their eyes.  
"Ey, ey, please turn that off." A rather high voice, most likely female, with a little growl at the end of the sentence.  
"Why would I?" Johnny said, still recovering from this jumpscare and still being angry with himself from being scared.  
"You don't want to make me force you, believe it."  
Reggie laughed hysterically. "Haha! Yeah, you little scum, you can't even stand light! Show us!"  
"As you wish." As she had spoken, she practically dove out of the circle of light with a 'swoosh'-like sound and within a second a figure with glowing red eyes threw itself on Johnny, trying to grab his flashlight.  
"What the..." Johnny aimed the bundle of light at her, and she went back to the protective position again.  
"Please," she said, though it sounded anything but polite, "I can't stand it."  
"What are you doing in the forest?" Johnny asked. "Are you our contact? Do you have the booze?"  
She slowly lowered her hands, revealing her face. She had a wide head with things sticking out on the sides like red feathers. Her body was white and somewhat plump, but that was just because she had a weird frame, she looked plump and fragile at the same time. She violently moved her tail over the ground in annoyance.  
"Well?" Johnny repeated.  
She squinted her red eyes, which were covered in glasses.  
"I study. Can I?"  
The group burst into hysterical laughter. Well, everyone except Randall, who was still invisible.  
"You study at the campus," Chet said. She hissed at him, causing him to flinch. "Have you ever tried studying when your dorm is close to the frat houses with all those parties? Have you?"  
"You never attend parties?" Reggie scoffed. "Nerd!"  
"You call me a nerd," she said, squinting even more. "Okay, we'll see where you are in ten years!" She looked around nervously as she noticed that the ROR members had gathered around her.  
Suddenly Javier grabbed her arms tightly with his four hands and Johnny laughed sadistically. "We'll see where you are after I have finished with you! Randall!"  
The purple lizard appeared, awkwardly rubbing his hands together. "Yes?"  
"Take this." Johnny handed him the flashlight. "Keep 'er shining at us."  
He slowly approached the white monster, who struggled to break free from Javier's iron grip.  
"Let me go!" she snarled, and when this didn't work, she started hissing, spitting and snapping, but that didn't help either.  
She then focused her eye's on Randall's, who was clearly her last resort.  
"Please." Her eyes were wide, her pupils extremely constricted, little dots in the middle of her bloodred iris. "Turn it off."  
Randall was strangely fascinated by her, partly because she looked weird, partly because she studied up a tree at midnight.  
But he just couldn't turn the flashlight off, he wanted to do it real bad, but he just couldn't. He didn't want to disobey Johnny's orders, risking to be forced to leave the fraternity. He just couldn't do it.  
The girl growled as Johnny let his claws trail down her body. "Idiot. Lust-filled idiot."  
"What?" He looked up, grinting his teeth in anger. "What did you say, creep?"  
"Are you deaf? I said: you are a lust-filled idiot." she said.  
Silence.  
Randall disappeared in fear, still holding the flashlight. When somebody called Johnny an idiot... Well, he didn't know what would happen then, because nobody even thought of calling Johnny an idiot.  
Johnny stepped forward as if he was about to slap her.  
She hissed again, showing off her uneven teeth. "Okay, slap me. Just remember one thing, my skin is extremely sensitive and I will be all black and blue tomorrow. I think Dean Hardscrabble will love that."  
The grey monster looked like he was about to slap her anyway, but then Chip grabbed his hand.  
"C'mon Johnny, easy." he said in a low voice. "Don't do this. You know you won't do this. This is not you. Javier, release her."  
The bug hesitated, then released the smaller monster, who attempted to dive into the darkness.  
"No- nonono." Chip grabbed her tail. "You stay here. We talk this out."  
"Talk this out," Reggie laughed, "have you ever heard something that idi-"  
In his laughter, he stepped backwards, on one of Randall's feet (who was still invisible). Randall yelped and dropped the flashlight.  
Swoosh. Everything went black and silent.  
"You _idiot_!" Johnny shouted to Chip. "You screwed everything! She's going to bark _everything_ around at campus!"  
"She won't," Chip said. He remained very calm while Johnny raged at him.  
"How do you know that?" Johnny asked.  
Chip shrugged loosely. "She doesn't seem very sociable to me. Probably she has no friends whom she can tell about what happened. She's not in any sorority. Plus, if she tells the Dean, she'll have to explain what she was doing outside of her dorm after curfew. She won't bark around."  
"You should've majored in psychology," Johnny snarled, then grabbed the flashlight from the ground.  
"We're heading back."  
"Wh-what?" Reggie shouted. "What about the booze, and the deal?"  
Johnny scowled at him, and Reggie raised his hands as an apology.

The group of students left, allowing the forest to be silent darkness filled up every tiny space between every tree, every branch, every leaf, and the silence seemed to be directly attached to it. The only sounds were some of Reggie's idiotic laughs, far, far away... And the heartbreaking sobbing of a fragile white monster up a tree.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the review, Energy witch! I'm sorry it took this long to update, I have to translate everything.**

**Please review! :)**

**Chapter 2**

Randall sighed as he entered his room. It was past 2 a.m., the events in the forest sure had taken a lot of time and energy. He didn't even bother to put on the lights.

Every time he blinked he saw that image again, it seemed to be burnt on his retina. The girl being held by Javier, begging him to dim the light. Maybe she was allergic to light? It seemed to make sense; why else would she study in a tree in the forest at night?

He sighed again, making himself comfortable at his bed. The whole happening left him with a strange, empty feeling in his stomach.

_Or maybe I'm just hungry._

He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to embrace him. Instead of that, a single knock on his door sounded. His mind, dazed by sleepiness, didn't quite pick it up. Then the knock sounded again, louder. Randall let out an annoyed sigh as he slithered over to open the door.

"What the-" he said, blinking against the light in the hallway.  
Javier was standing there, rising high above the lizard in front of his doorstep.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"No." Randall said, wanting to close the door in the his face. "Look, it's been a long day and I have morning classes tomorrow, all right?"

"Give me five minutes." Javier seemed restless, which was rare for him. "I just, I need to talk to someone."  
"Talk to Reggie," Randall said, "he's your best friend or what?"

"Yes, but... I can't, he won't... You know." Javier wiggled his antennae nervously.

Randall bit his lower lip in annoyance. "All right then. Five minutes, not even one second more."

He closed the door after the blue bug had entered the room. "Now what?"

Javier swallowed and Randall would've sworn his lip trembled. This wasn't like Jav at all. He was so laid back and unresponsive all the time, and now he seemed all restless and nervous.

"Okay," Javier said, "It's... This sounds weird but..." He closed his eyes or one second, then said: "It's about the girl in the forest. I-I think I have a crush on her."

Randall felt like he swallowed a rock. "Uh... Oh. That's um, good for you."  
"Good for me?" Javier said. "I don't even know what her name is, what's she's majoring in, where her dorm is, what age she is!"

"Johnny didn't know her, so she's most likely a freshman," Randall said, kind of figuring that out on the spot, "and by the way, how many white monsters are there? You might run into her one day and apologize for your actions."  
Javier nodded, visibly less nervous. "Okay. Eh, I'll be leaving now." Five seconds later he had left, closing the door behind him.

Strangely enough, Randall found himself being some kind of jealous of Javier.

_Maybe because I like her too._

He shook his head in confusion, sighed for the umpteenth time and laid down on the bed. Almost immediately he fell asleep, a dreamless sleep, no girls, no jealousy, just silence and darkness.

A single knock on the door sounded. Randall opened one eye. He had always been a light sleeper, he would even wake up from the sound of a feather falling down on the ground.

"When it's Javier again, I'll smack him," he muttered and walked to the door in order to open it. Nobody was there, but he heard the other guys walking down the stairs- that could simply not be missed.

Randall looked at his alarm clock and sighed. Half past eight a. m. It seemed like he had slept less than one hour. But he had to get up, life went on, he had classes this morning.

Classes. He felt how his heart started to race. Maybe he would see that girl again.  
He then shook his head immediately. He hadn't been in the same classes as she last semester. She probably didn't even have Scaring as her major! He swallowed, gathered his books and put them in his dark green bagpack.

As he walked down the impressive stairs of the ROR house he already heard the other guys talking.  
"No seriously, that little sucker was scared to death!" Reggie laughed. "Did you see that look on her face when Jav was holding her!"

"Ah well, I'm so scary I scare scarers," Javier said calmly, and Reggie laughed hysterically, even though it wasn't meant funny.

Randall silently entered the kitchen, where everybody was seated around the table. This rarely happened, and if it happened, Randall always liked to sit with them and talk. Then he really felt like part of the 'cool guys'. Now he didn't even want to stay there for longer than ten seconds. He tried to sneak past them.

"Hey!" Johnny called out- and Randall knew he had been spotted- "Our scaled hero! How are you?"

"I'm fine," Randall said, "Just really tired."

"Shoulda drunk something man!" Reggie said. "I mean, alcohol is the answer. To everything."

Randall smiled forcedly. "Nah, thanks."

"Got any classes today?" Chip asked.

Randall nodded. "Just the regular thing, right. Morning classes only, scaring, that stuff."

"Ohohoh-" Reggie said, scratching the chair he was sitting on in excitement, "If you happen to run into Miss Lighthater-Albino again, just gimme a call." He smiled, which looked more like a grimace due to his teeth and always gaping jaws. "I'd love to finish where we stopped last night." He poked Javier with a smile, who didn't give in to his idea and continued to stare ahead. He looked like he was high on something, but Randall knew what was bothering him.

"So, if you don't mind, I'll just go... Don't wanna be late for classes." Randall said. "Bye!"  
His greeting was answered with a few muffled noises. Randall shrugged and quickly left the fraternity house, bagpack over his shoulder.

He inhaled deeply as he walked down the little streets of the campus. He loved it when the air was moist and cool, it felt good against his scaled skin.

It was cold for the time of year, but he didn't mind it. Ah well, maybe he should've brought his ROR sweater, but he didn't wear his fraternity's logo with pride anymore since, you know, the Scare Games. He shrugged to his own thoughts.

He climbed up the stairs of the Scaring faculty, then comfortably slithered down the corridor.

His feet made sticky noises as they hit the ground, causing the purple lizard to sigh. He must've stepped an some chewing gum once again. He stopped to examine his four feet and on his left hind foot he found a piece of chewing gum. With his face filled with disgust he removed the pink mass from his foot, then quickly moved on. He didn't want to be late on his first class of the new semester!

When he arrived at the large scaring room, the door wasn't closed yet. He sighed in relief as he entered the classroom, walked down the aisle and found a seat at the bottom row.

He began taking his books out of his bagpack, when he heard somebody clear their throat.  
He looked up and his heart stopped for a moment.

She was there. The girl from yesterday.

She just stood there, squinting a little, the feathery things at the sides of her head stood out horizontally.  
"Can I sit here?" She pointed to the seat next to him, where he had put his bagpack.

"S-s-sure," he stuttered, taking his bag on his lap with shaking hands.

"Good." She sat down. She simply carried her books under her arm and had them ready right away.

Randall continued to unpack, shaking hands, butterflies in his stomach. When he had finally found his theory book he placed it on his lap, then stealthily looked at the girl.

As if she noticed, she looked at him, and the eye contact made Randall shiver. He forced himself to speak up.

"Um, look," he said, "I'm sorry about yesterday... I'm so sorry I didn't dim the flashlight. I just, I couldn't... I couldn't do it."

She kept her piercing red eyes focused on Randall's, without even blinking, it seemed.

"I accept your apology," she said, and it wasn't until now Randall noticed he had a southern British accent, "but if you mean to gain my full trust by this, you should've taken a different approach."

Randall was speechless. In a normal situation with a normal girl he would have started disliking her by now. But this was everything but normal right now.

He wanted to some up with a response, but then professor Knight entered the classroom and closed the door.

"Why, hello everyone!" he said as he walked down the aisle towards the front of the classroom. "If you are here, that means you have passed the finals. We had to witness a couple of dropouts, also because of the scare games, but eventually... You guys passes. Congratulations. You may applaude for yourselves."

The students chuckled slightly.

Randall sneaked a glance at the monster next to him. She didn't even smile.

"However. You have probably forgotten about all the information I taught you last semester. So the first thing to do this year is a little scare simulation!"

The class moaned loudly in reluctance, causing the professor to grin. "Oh, don't worry, I'll make this easy." He walked to the scare simulator and lifted the covers of the bed, which hid the control panel, and put the switches between 'medium' and 'hard'.

Randall sighed in relief. This was going to be easy.

The professor grabbed a list and moved his reading glasses to the tip of his nose.  
"Okay. This is a 10-year-old, afraid of clowns and dogs. We'll start from the top of the list. Allister?"

A light green furry monster shyly walked down the aisle and walked over to the door.

"Can I?" he asked.

"You can start whenever you're ready," Knight said without looking up from his papers. He then looked at the class. "Please, no studying. You will not receive a mark for this."

A few monsters put their books away with guilty looks on their faces. Randall did the same, not wanting to be the center of attention if he would be caught. The girl next to him put her books on the ground.

The green monster had finished, the dummy in the simulator screamed.

Professor Knight walked over to reset the simulator and looked on his list again.

Randall swallowed. He knew he would most likely be next, because his last name started with a 'B'.

"Blake? You're next." Knight said

And to Randall's surprise, the girl got up and walked to the scare simulator.  
With a confident look at the professor she put her hand on the door knob. Knight nodded at her and she opened the door a little. Randall watched her actions intently.

As soon as the girl entered the darkened room, she vanished.  
"What the heck?" someone in the back of the room exclaimed, expressing the thoughts of the ones watching and pulling the attention of others.

The curtains in the simulator room had moved and an eerie, scratching sound could be heard. The dummy, which had to resemble a human child, slowly raised its head and looked at the moving curtains for a moment. Then it laid its head down again.

A dark figure with glowing red eyes rose from behind the bed. The dummy-child looked up and the moment it saw the figure, a load roar was uttered by it. It sounded almost like a scream of agony, rasping and piercing.  
The dummy didn't even scream at the beginning, it just flung its mouth open and shook heavily. Then the scream came. It lasted for almost ten seconds and by then, the girl had already -invisibly- rushed out of the door.

The class applauded.

"And that would be an A++," professor Knight said, obviously having paid attention to her performance, "well done, Blake."

"I could do better," she muttered while strolling back to her seat. The professor smiled.

"Right. Boggs, up next."


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:**__ Thanks SO much for the reviews everyone! I'll try to answer them..._

**LadyBookworm18: Aww, thank you! I'm glad you like my OC! :D Thanks for reviewing!**

**Whiteling: Yeah, heheh, there might be some oncoming romantic drama and stuff! Thanks for reviewing!**

**Energy Witch: Indeed, it's kind of awkward that they like the same girl. xD But as the story will develop, things will change. Thanks for reviewing!**

_And as you may have noticed, I changed the cover thingy. It's hideous, I know, I drew it in like, ten minutes, just to have something. I hope to make a better one soon!_

_Please review. :)_

**Chapter 3**

Randall looked around nervously.

The girl wiggled the feathery thing on her head and adjusted her glasses. She seemed to be paying attention. Well, she would be the only one then, everybody had gone back to stealthily studying in their theory books, and professor Knight had only eyes for his paperwork.

He walked to the simulator and placed his hand on the doorknob, looking at the professor to see if he gave any sign of approval like he did with the girl. But he didn't even look up from his papers.  
The purple lizard sighed and opened the door, quickly turning invisible. No one acted surprised when he did so, unlike they did while the girl was in the simulator.

No no no, he had to concentrate. He had to be focused. He didn't like scare simulators, he had never liked them, but since the scare games... He shook his head to get rid of the embarassing memory and sneaked over to the dummies bed.

Scratching the side of it, he heard it raising its head and lowering it again. He slowly stood up and growled in the back of his throat.

The dummy looked up again, and Randall turned invisible and roared. The scream didn't last very long, it had already stopped once Randall left the simulator.

"Davies up next," professor Knight said as he reset the simulator.

No applause, no attention, no compliment. It was like he hadn't even been noticed. He had lost all of his popularity...

Randall flushed a bright pink, practically ran to his seat and sat down.

"Your entrance was great. I love your camouflaging ability," he suddenly heard. He looked up. The girl had spoken, leaning her head on one hand and looking bored as always, still squinting a little.

"You think?" he asked tentatively. She nodded. "But next time, make sure to lean over a little while roaring, so the kid can feel your breathe. Like this." She leaned over and hissed through clenched teeth. Randall shivered. She was beautiful and dangerous at the same time, it was a very confusing combination.

She smirked nearly unnoticeable. "Should've seen your face. Priceless."

Randall took a deep breathe. "How come you are so good at scaring?"

She knitted her barely visible eyebrows together, visibly not liking the subject.

"Got a family who forced you to follow their footsteps?" he asked carefully.

She shook her head. "Nah, it's just..." She shrugged, then took off her glasses in order to rub in her eyes. "It's just... I don't like this subject very much. We'll talk about this another time, okay?"

He nodded and his heart jumped. She figured they would talk again! She didn't hate him!

"It's all cool," he said, "and eh, then teach me some of your skills as well!"

Professor Knight looked at them, slightly irritated. "I request absolute silence from other students."  
They were silent. Then a soft, lazy chuckle escaped from the girl's throat. Randall looked at her in amusement. She had sense of humour, sure thing.

Knight looked at them sharply and continued his class. "Almost done, folks. Wandston, up next."

And as the last monster had finished its practical assignment, the professor ended the lesson.  
"All right, remember to read page 98 up to 112 in your theory book, I'll ask questions about those in the next class. You are now dismissed."

Randall waited until the girl next to him got up to take her books and then picked up his bag. "What's your next class?" she asked.

He tried to keep his voice calm. "Chems. Toxicology."

Her wide mouth curled into a slight smile. "Oh. Mine too. Let's go there together."

"You said you would not befriend me," Randall suddenly blurted out.  
She stopped grabbing her books together and gave him a calculating look. "I said I did not approve of the way you tried to get my attention. In normal English: your pickup line sucked."  
That left Randall a bit dazzled. "O-oh. I should work on that. I've never been a very social person."  
"Well then," she said, "let's go."

Leaving his last comment unanswered, she walked up the stairs of the Scaring classroom, which led to the door.

Randall followed her, reluctantly. He didn't even know why the lack of reply left him with a bad feeling.

"Oh yeah, miss Blake," it sounded. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

She looked up. "Sure, professor."

That said, she walked down the aisle again, turning her head to Randall. "I'll catch up with you, go ahead."

Randall hurried out of the classroom, into the hallway, closed the door, then practically collapsed against the wall, clutching his chest with a wide grin, earning a puzzled look from passing monsters. For the first time in years he felt in love again, really in love, not those little infatuations you experience in 6th grade. And damn, it was a good feeling.

He resisted the urge to start whistling as he continued his way down the hallway.

The chems classroom was not too far away from the scaring classroom. As soon as Randall entered the room he subconsciously tried to find a spot to sit to be able to sit next to the girl. The tables were wide so two persons could sit on them next to each other. Many monsters chose to sit alone on a table though, making it harder to find a table that was totally empty. Finally he found one, halfway down the aisle at the side of the window. He sat down on the seat next to the window, leaving the seat next to him unoccupied. He just sat there and waited for the girl.

She didn't show up. Even after five minutes she still wasn't there. Randall began to worry about her a little. Professor knight just wanted to talk to her, right?

"Hey lizard," he heard and a familiar blue monster sat down next to him.

Randall looked up. "Javier? Eh, can you please sit somewhere else?"

Javier squinted his four eyes. "I ain't sitting nowhere else. Now really, I trust you, but that doesn't mean I'd obey your orders. Remember, you're not the leader of the pack, understood?"

" 'Scuse me." Javier looked up and a split second his pupils dilated and his mouth curled into a smile. Then his laid back personality covered his face again.

The girl stood there, holding her books, the feathery things on her head stood out wide, making her look threatening. "I am sitting there, if you don't mind me."

Javier got on his feet real quickly, then smiled in a flirtatious way, revealing his sharp teeth. It looked real creepy on him. "Of course you can sit there, ma'am."

She took his place, giving him a piercing look. "What a change in behaviour compared to last night, mister bug."

Javier grinned. "Ah, I'm just revealing my true nature."

"Oh, so then you're even more of a moron. Thanks for saying that, I wouldn't have noticed it myself." After this sarcastic remark, she just put her books on the table and started looking for her chemistry book.

Javier was silent for a moment, then a big smile came to his face. "So apparently you have a sharp tongue. I like that about you, miss eh, miss. So, _señorita_, do you have anything to do tonight?"

Without looking up she replied: "If you're trying to flirt with your cute Spanish accent and dito words you've chosen the wrong one to mess with-" she looked up over the rim of her glasses "and now_ leave me alone_." Then her books received all of her attention again.

Randall looked at Javier quickly. The blue bug acted like he didn't care, found a seat a couple of rows in front of them, but Randall could see the hurt in his pink eyes. He actually wanted to say something nice to him, but deep inside he cheered. _She doesn't like Jav and she's nice to me!_

"Which chapter?" she asked Randall. "Chapter four," Randall replied, "at least, that's where we stopped last semester."

"Oh. Okay," she said, flipping some pages of her book.

At that moment the teacher, a large, yellow, slimy monster with one eye, entered the room. Randall knew him from last semester, but the girl didn't.

She sighed and place her head in her hands. "Oh, goodness. Bunch of weirdoes over here." Randall didn't even want to think about it if that could possibly apply to him.

"Okay, folks," the teacher, Mr Ferring, said, "Please open up your textbooks at chapter four. It's been a while since our last class, but we'll start off with some new, refreshing theory. Chapter four please."

The students did as the teacher said. Randal stealthily casted a few glances at the girl next to him. She seemed so calm, so serene, so soft... He wondered what it would feel like to hug her and nuzzle his face into her red hair, then gently placing a peck on her lips...

When she looked up, seeming to notice the attention he gave her, he quickly turned his gaze to his book and pretended to read.

"Since we're doing Toxicology this semester, we'll be doing a few practical assignments to find out about what exactly makes things toxic and what's dangerous about it. This box..." He put a wooden box on the table, "... contains a microscope. You will be using the same one in all of your classes. The number your last name has on my list, that number is the number of your microscope. If anything happens to it, you will pay for it. And watch it, these things are expensive. I will give you some explaination about the microscope first."

"Oh please," the girl whispered, "been through that a thousand times already."

Randall gave her a puzzled look. "We haven't worked with those things yet." She looked at him and shook her head. "No, just, nevermind."

"Okay. This is an optical microscope with one ocular, which means you look through it with one eye, since we cannot provide stereo microscopes for all students, because some have four eyes or three eyes or seven eyes. You look through this-" Ferring pulled a little tube out of the top of the microscope "- which is called the eyepiece or optical lens. In the box are three other eyepieces which provide other grades of magnification, in combination with this." He pointed at a piece at the bottom of the microscope. "That's the revolver, and no, you can't shoot anyone with it, I'm sorry." The students chuckled. "It just multiplies the magnification of the eyepiece. For example, when I have an ocular that enlarges 5 times and the ocular at the revolver enlarges ten times, that makes the total magnification fifty."

Randall saw the other students, including the girl next to him, were taking notes. He quickly began digging in his bag to find a notebook and a pencil, which took him rather long. As he sat up again, he knocked his head against the edge of the table, causing him to whimper. He placed the notebook on his table, then saw Mr Ferring had already finished his talk about the revolver and was going on about the so-called stage.

The girl noticed his desperate grab for his notebook and whispered: "You can copy my notes after class." Randall nodded thankfully, starting to take notes from that point on.

As Mr Ferring had finished his talk about the microscope he took a list. "Okay. You can come to the front if you hear your name and then take your microscope." He then added in an ominous voice: "And don't you dare drop it or even joking about dropping it."

Again the students chuckled. Randall didn't even want to join in, his whole mind was occupied by the girl.

"Arensen. Number one."

A small monster walked to the front and took her wooden box.

"Badgley. Number two."

A tall, spikey monster walked down the aisle.

"Blake. Number three."

The girl got up and strolled over to the front to get her microscope.

Javier caught Randall's attention by waving slightly. The bug pointed to the girl with his head, then licked his lips. Randall shrugged, he didn't want Javier to like the girl, he was jealous.

She returned with a wooden box. "That stuff's heavy as heck." Randall smiled and prepared to stand up.

"Boggs. Number four."

He stood up and tried to squeeze past the girl without touching her, as the rows of tables were put rather close to eachother. Despite his efforts, their arms brushed as he walked by, causing him to clush madly. He tried to turn his cheeks back to their normal color before walking any further, in which he succeeded. He walked to the front and picked up the box with a black number four on it. As he went back to his place, the teacher continued reading names.

He sat down and smiled to the girl. She raised one corner of her mouth in reply.

It took a while before everyone's name had been called. "So. Now everyone has their own microscope, look at paragraph one of chapter four. Let's see, who will be my victim... Mr Rios, can you please read it out loud for us?"


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N:**__ Thanks for all of the reviews again! You guys really encourage me to keep writing! :D_

**Whiteling: Indeed, she's not the type that will fall for a few flirtatious words, she cares more about the inside and stuff. Thank you for offering suggestions for her name! I had already decided her name before I started writing though, and you will read it in this chapter! Hope you like it! Thanks for reviewing! :D**

**Energy Witch: You have got a point there! I love how you've written an in-depth review. It would be better if someone told Randall and Javier to get their minds off the girl, it would be the best for all of them. But will they listen? X3 Thanks for reviewing! :D**

**Chapter 4**

Javier's monotone voice would have made Randall's eyelids heavy, if it weren't for the girl, miss Blake, sitting next to him.

She distracted him all the time, even if she didn't mean or want to. Every little movement she made was seen by Randall, that be wiggling the feathery red things on her head or her typical glasses-adjusting. She wasn't exactly 'hot' in his opinion, some monsters at campus were really... female in appearance, and she wasn't part of those, that was obvious. Based on that she could as even be mistaken for a guy . But there was something about her that had that typical femine charm about it, even though she didn't bother to emphasize it. Javier wouldn't agree with that, of course, but he flirted with everything that even resembled a female monster.

"Thank you mister Rios," Ferring said. "Now what I want you to do is split up in groups of... two, yes, that's the best. You can switch tables, as long as you bring your own microscope. You are fully responsible for it now. I'd prefer you to work together with the monster sitting next to you on the table though. Once you have made groups I will give further instructions."

Randall didn't want to ask her.

She did it for him. "So, eh. We work together, shall we?"

Randall closed his eyes for a split second for a quick thought of 'thank you' to her, he didn't want to thank her out loud, that would be too obvious. Then he nodded. "Of course."

She nodded back, scratching her head.

Suddenly someone a couple of rows before them raised their hand.

"Mr Rios?" Ferring said.

"I'm sitting alone," Javier said, "The dude next to me switched tables."

"Ah wel," the teacher said, "since we do have some absentees the number of students present comes to an odd number, that's not a surprise. Then you can join a pair of two. It is somewhat unusual, but I will allow it for today."

Javier turned around with a wide smirk. "Oh hey, Randall, old friend, mind if I join in?"

That got Randall trapped. He didn't want to let the girl down, that was actually the last thing he wanted, but he couldn't say 'no' either, the teacher would not approve of that.

"Do as you please," he finally said.

Javier grabbed his chair and the microscope and walked over to the two. He pretentiously placed his chair in between them, barely able to squeeze in between the two smaller monsters, and placed his microscope on the table. As he sat down, he grinned to the girl. "Our paths seem to cross multiple times."

She scoffed. "You _make_ them cross."

"Oh oh, please don't be mad, you're too cute to get mad."

"Mr Rios, I know you don't sit next to girls often, but you should try and pay attention now," Ferring said, earning some snickering from his students. "Good. I'm just going to hand out some specimen now. It was taken from a real human toy. I'd want to tell you not to try to peel the top slide off, but I think you already figured that one out. It has been made less toxic, but still you still wouldn't want to touch it. You then can go ahead and insert it onto the stage, underneath the arms, and turn on the light. Make sure the revolver is at 10 at first and the ocular is a ten times multiplying one. Then you can use the coarse multipier to make the vision clear, and repeat the steps each time you turn the revolver. You have to look at the specimen at a magnification of 500. Then I want you to discuss what you see, what makes it toxic, everything. You better write that down, I will ask things about it in the next class and you may even have to write an essay later on. I'll hand out the slides, you can start off right away."

Ferring started to hand out the specimens, walking through the classroom.

As Randall, Javier and the girl received their specimens, Javier was the only not to start with preparing his microscope immediately. He didn't even bother to look at the slide, he just openly started at the girl.  
She ignored him and looked through the ocular of her microscope. "Looks like fiber to me."

Randall did the same. He saw enlarged fabric wires, fiber, as the girl had said.

Javier hadn't done anything yet. He just continued to stare at the girl to the point she couldn't ignore him anymore.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" she snapped.

"I'm looking at you," Javier said in a flirtatious voice, "and I like what I see."

She tried to stay calm, then said: "If you only try flirting with me once more, I'll slap you across the face. I don't like you. I have never even _thought_ of liking you and your horrible attitude makes it impossible for me to _ever_ like you. I wouldn't want that anyway. So, leave me."

Javier turned his head very suddenly, away from her, very interested in his microscope at once. He then raised his hand.

"Mr Rios?" Mr Ferring started to become annoyed.

"Can I use the bathroom?" Javier asked. The teacher nodded. Javier packed his bag and left the classroom real quickly.

Randall smiled to the girl. "Woah, you gave that to him straight!"

She shrugged. "Nah, I didn't want him to think I like him. 'Cause I don't."

It was like she had just lifted a stone from his chest. At first, she didn't like Javier back! Secondly, she was very clear about liking someone, and she hadn't said to Randall she didn't like him back! He wanted to jump around the room. Of course, he didn't do so.

"Still," she said, "I think this is fiber."

They continued to discuss the specimen and write their opinions down, and Randall noticed he could concentrate better since Javier had left. He actually enjoyed this assignment with the girl, she was really good company to study with. Otherwise he would probably not even have bothered with doing the assignment. Maybe this was even going to bring him better grades.

_I mean, why can't she like me?_ If she didn't, she would have said so by now. Everything made perfect sense. He felt a little sad when the teacher announced the end of the class.

"You can leave the microscopes on your table, I will have another class after this. But please, turn them off and return the specimens."

"So eh, you have another class after this?" Randall asked as he packed his bag. She shook her head and coughed. "No. I'm going to study and then get some sleep."

"Oh, okay," Randall said, "same here. Let's walk together."

She nodded, they left the classroom and walked down the hallway.

"Javier didn't come back after he left," Randall said. "Shouldn't we put his chair and microscope back?"

She frowned. "Javier? You mean 'Mr Rios', the obnoxious bug man?"

Randall nodded.

"He can do that himself," she said. "I'm not doing that for him."

They walked a bit further. She started coughing more and more. "Oh, just a second." She darted into the ladies' room as they passes, and returned less than ten seconds later.

"You are faster than most girls," Randall commented.

She gave him a puzzled look, then chuckled. "No man," she said, "I just moisturized my gills by splashing water on them. Breathing gets hard when they dry out, you know. The air here also isn't really helping."

"Your what?" Randall asked.

"My gills." She moved the red feathery things at the sides of her head. "I breathe with them. Real cool. I can breathe under water."

"Oh," Randall said, "that's cool indeed."

And they were silent. It was an awkward kind of silence. Randall felt relieved when they left the building and stepped into the cool air.

"I like this weather," he said to break the silence, but it sounded so dumb he shut up after that.  
She just shrugged. "Me too."

As they had walked about 50 yards the girl said: "Yeah, my dorm's there, so... Our ways part."

"Oh, okay," Randall said, "so... will I see you again, tomorrow or so?"

She shrugged again. "We'll see. So... bye!"

She turned around and walked to the dorm building. Randall swallowed as he turned around to walk away.

"Hey..." he then heard. He looked up. She was standing halfway down the path to the dorm. "I don't even know what your name is."

Randall was delighted. "R-Randall Boggs, but people call me Randy."

She nodded shortly. "Okay. I'm Leta Rowan Blake, by the way. If you'd even want to know."

Randall nodded back. "Okay, bye then."

He waited until she had entered the building. Then he raced into the direction of the frat row, which was a rather big distance to run, but he didn't even feel like stopping. He was clearly feeling butterflies in his stomach. He just ran, past the amphitheater, past the other frat houses and stopped at the end of the frat row to enter the ROR house.

He was in love with Leta. And once again, it felt damn good.

As he entered the frat house, nobody was there. At least it seemed like it.

"Hey," Randall yelled, "anybody home?"

No reaction.

He shrugged, then walked upstairs. He would do the exact same as Leta, do some homework and then sleep. And after that, he would get something to eat. He hadn't had anything to eat since this morning. Wait, he hadn't even had breakfast. He would get something at The Growl or so.

He wondered if there would be any food in the house. Most likely there would be some, since ROR was hosting this party next week, but Johnny would most likely kill him if he only dared to touch it. The ROR leader loved to prepare parties really well, and especially this party. It could save the whole reputation of ROR.

Randall was about to open the door to his room as he heard a noise.

Much like muffled sobbing or something...  
_What, or rather, who could it be?_

Randall listened. The noise seemed to come from another dorm. He then heard it came out of Javier's room.

He knocked on the door.

"Jav." No reply, and the sounds stopped. He knocked again. "Javier."

He heard footsteps, then the door opened just a crack, revealing half of the bug's features. His pink eyes were almost red, his antennae hanging to the sides.

"Randall. Oh. Didn't hear you come in." His voice was hoarse. He leaned against the wooden frame of the door.

Randall tilted his head, frowning a little. "C'mon, Jav. What's up?"

Javier uttered an annoyed sigh, obviously not wanting to talk. "None of your business, lizard boy."

"More of my business than you think it is," Randall said.

The blue bug sighed again. "You got me there. All right. It's just..." He shrugged as his emotions threatened to show. "I know she... that I... I..." He couldn't stop stuttering, his voice on the verge of cracking.

"I just think she could've been the one for me, okay?" He started shouting out of nowhere. "I still love her freakin' damn much, so get the _hell_ out of here and leave me alone! Please!"

His sudden explosion of anger made Randall step back and disappear, only a floating bagpack was still visible. Javier was never angry or upset. He had to be serious.

"I can see you," Javier commented, "leave me. Really. You don't want me to make you leave."  
Randall hesitated. He didn't want any other guy to go after Leta, but he felt bad for his fraternity brother.

"Go away, man! You expect me to cry or something?" Javier shouted. "Ha, even the thought of me crying!" He started laughing, but it ended in a sob. He stepped back and slammed the door shut.  
Randall stepped forward and said: "Maybe you'd like to know: her name is Leta Rowan Blake."

Again, no reply.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** _Oh goodness, I finally have a chance to update again -,- School started and stuff._ _Lemme reply to the reviews._

**_Whiteling: Yes, I also was kind of not sure whether to let Javier be sensitive about it or not. I dunno, *shrugs* I hope it didn't seem too much out of character! Yes, there most certainly are meaner rejective lines, but Leta is not really a type for purposely hurting someone, she just wanted to be honest with him and also, she wanted to get him off her back. :P Thanks for your review! :D_**

**_Energy Witch: Randy could indeed offer some advice, but he's just being selfish and doesn't want Javier to get involved with Leta at all. And indeed, she hasn't forgotten the event in the woods. Maybe she'll be able to forgive Javier once he apologises? :) Thanks for your review! :D_**

**Chapter 5**

Randall sighed and walked to his own room. It was no use talking to Javier like this. Honestly, he didn't want to do so either. He needed to study. He'd start off with Scaring, then Toxicology and after that he'd prepare for tomorrow's classes.

He closed the door behind him and began looking for his Scaring books in his bag. Scaring theory was so boring, it stated obvious things but with ridiculous examples, so the professor would know it when you hadn't read it.

After two pages or so Randall laid his head on his hands in boredom, trying to read from that position. He actually couldn't see a thing without his glasses.

His eyelids grew heavy. Just five minutes, he thought, just a five minute's nap. And so he did.

But five minutes quickly become six minutes, and when you're tired, six minutes become half an hour, time slipping through your fingers like water.

So Randall only woke up when some of his fellow ROR members returned from their afternoon classes, banging their fists against his door for fun as they walked by.

He blinked lazily and looked at his alarm clock. Twelve past three in the afternoon. He had slept for almost three hours.

"Great way of studying you got there, Randy," he muttered to himself. "Let's get something to eat then."

He stood up and packed his books again, which he wanted to take with him to study while he ate. He then left the room, flicking the light switch to 'off'.

He walked, out of the frat house, through the campus, on his way to The Growl.

The air inside the little building was dry, causing the lizard to sneeze. He actually hated to study while eating, but he kinda felt like punishing himself for his lack of discipline.

He took a tray and just randomly grabbed a sandwich and got a cup of black coffee.

As he had paid, he quickly dropped his bag on the first unoccupied table he could find, because his shoulder was starting to hurt from the weight.

He placed his tray in front of him as he sat down, then he took his Scaring theory book out of his bag.  
"Make sure to avoid moon light as it has the same effects as a nightlight; it is life-endangering..." he mumbled while nibbling on his sandwich.

"The child could see you and scream for their parents," he suddenly heard, the quote perfectly matching the text in the book. He looked up.

_Leta._

His heart skipped a beat and a waterfall of butterflies escaped in his stomach.

"H-hello, Leta." He had finally forced himself to speak up.

"Hello Randall," she said with a faint smile. "Mind if I take this seat?" She gestured to the chair across the table with her head, her hands occupied with a tray.

"N-no, not at all!" he said, and he couldn't help but grin.

"Good." She sat down and looked at his book. "Scaring, huh?"

"What else?" Randall smirked, flipping the page.

Leta took a bite of her sandwich and her face was distorted by disgust for a moment. "Doh! That's freakin' cardboard, man! How do they even provide these here?"

Randall frowned. "You've never tasted them before? I mean, every freshman has had a couple of those, they're unevitable as they're being sold in all cafés around the campus. Except for Tastes Like Nature maybe."

She gave him an amused look. "My dear, dear Randall-" that gave him tingles down his spine- "I'm new here, this is my first day of college at MU!"

"Oh." Randall felt incredibly stupid. She had indeed dropped quite a few hints that she was new here. "But, how come you only enrolled this semester? I mean, you missed a whole semester! Where do you actually come from? I..." He shut up when he saw she looked at him with a kind of creeped-out look on her face, he must've overwhelmed her with his questions. "I'm sorry."

She shrugged. "Nah, 'tis okay. It's just, I don't like to talk about my past very much, I also mentioned that earlier today. But since you are actually interested and I promised to tell you, heck, I could as well tell, you know."

"I appreciate that," Randall said, putting down his book to be able to give her his full attention.  
"Okay," she said, "I started college life at Fear Tech, where I also majored scaring. Everything went fine, I was rather popular, had good grades and everything, I was in the football team, other sports team, hanging out with the jocks, that kind of stuff. But, yeah, things changed quickly after I was accused of smuggling and dealing drugs on the campus, which I absolutely didn't. I still haven't figured out what happened exactly, but there were drugs at campus. The principals didn't understand it either, they didn't know what to think of me, and 'just to make sure' they wanted me to leave the school. To avoid getting bad publicity though, they let me apply for MU, as a 'great student' who had to leave Fear Tech due to 'social problems'. They meant bullying. Maybe that's what happened."

She shrugged.

"Ah well, it doesn't matter. It's too late now... Maybe you understand now why I act so much like a social awkward geek. That's about it. E-excuse me."

She turned around and took off her glasses to begin sweeping in her eyes.

Randall froze for a split second. _Nononono, she couldn't be crying._ He couldn't handle situations like that, especially not with girls.  
But... Leta really seemed to need help. She was sobbing uncontrollably now, causing him to feel sick in the stomach.

So he got up. "Leta..." he began. She just sobbed on. He inhaled deeply, walked over to her and hugged her.

He felt how she leaned in in approval, letting him wrap his four arms around her body as she wrapped hers around his neck. "Thank you," she said softly, as a suggestion she wanted their hug to end now.  
He released her reluctantly, adrenalin racing through his body. He wondered if she could have felt his pace, that was tremendously fast by now.

"You're welcome," he said. "Better now?"

She laugh-sobbed, wiped the last tears out of her eyes and put her glasses back again. "Yes. It's good to get things off your chest. I kinda, you know, trust you. Despite yesterday."

"Just... Just forget yesterday, okay? Everybody was kinda... I don't know, a bit excited." Randall said.  
She nodded. "I might give everyone a second chance. Maybe except that leader of yours, but the rest I might forgive."

"Even Javier?" Randall asked as he felt alarmed.

"Bug man?" she said, "Yes, even Javier. That is, if he apologizes sincerely."

The butterflies in his stomach were crushed by a suddenly materializing rock.

"Oh. Oh. Okay." He swallowed thickly and felt like _he_ was the one to start crying now.

She looked at him with her piercing red eyes. It was like they burnt into his soul. He felt like she knew everything, that he didn't have to tell her about his feelings. Oh, he wished that would be true. _Oh please, let it be true._ But no.

"You don't like Javier," she stated.

He shrugged. "We just, yeah, we don't get along too well."

She nodded. "Oh, I see that." She then looked back at her sandwich. "Guess I'll have to eat this little sucker then."

Randall nodded and also began eating his sandwich.

She suddenly startled. "Oh! I don't have my chems notes on me right now, I promised to let you copy them! I'm so sorry!"

He shrugged. "Ah, doesn't matter. We'll take care of that tomorrow. Eh, what classes do you have tomorrow?"

She adjusted her glasses. "Tomorrow is... Tuesday? Eh, I have Maths as first morning class, then English in the afternoon and after that I have to train with the school's swimming team. You can come and watch us, if you want."

Randall smiled. "I'd love to. And seems like we have English together. Have you prepared yet?"

She scoffed. "Why would I? Not like they're going to ask anything about it this semester, I mean, it's the start."

"I always prepare for classes," Randall said, "It works for me, at least. Gets me good grades and stuff, so..."

"Okay," she said, "But about tomorrow. English ends at three o'clock. Training is at seven o'clock. That gives us four hours in between. Eh, I can let you copy my notes and teach you some of my scaring techniques in the meanwhile. That is, if you even wanted to spend that time with me."

"Oh, that's great," Randall said, "It's better than spending time at the frat house."

She nodded. "I take the bus to the Monstropolis swimming pool at six thirty, just so that you know. And oh yeah, we have another training friday night, so..."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't come then."

She hung her head a little. "No, I'm the one to be sorry, I just got a little carried away with that. I mean, I don't talk to people much lately, and I just thought..."

"Nono, it's okay," Randall smiled, trying to cheer her up. "It's just, I have a party then, it's hosted by ROR, so I'll just have to attend it."

"Party... Wow, that's a long time ago," she mused, stirring her coffee."I actually don't think I can make it. And if it weren't for you, I wouldn't even want to make it. You know, it's ROR after all, and how much I'd even want it, I don't trust these guys on booze. Except you then, but I don't see you becoming all intoxicated."

"I understand that," Randall said. He was kind of disappointed she couldn't come, but it was probably better for her. And boy, did he get two compliments in one sentence there! She would have wanted to come just for him and she trusted him! He loved the happy feeling he got inside.

Yes, at least she liked him in a just-friends way. It could only become better.

They continued to talk and both somehow managed to finish the gruesome sandwich. Then Leta got up.

"Okay. I still want to do some homework, so I'm going to head back to my dorm."

Randall did the same. "Good idea." He quickly packed his bag and they walked outside together.  
It had started raining and the campus was cold and misty.

Leta shivered. "Wish I'd brought a coat."

Randall wished the same. He should've brought his ROR sweater, just so he could offer it to her, just for the idea. He didn't even have an umbrella.

"At leat your gills don't dry out now," he said. She smirked. "Got a good memory there, lizard."

Then they were at the building where Leta's dorm was.

"See you tomorrow then," she smiled, then hugged him. Randall gasped in surprise, hesitated awkwardly, then gave in to the hug. It lasted less than three seconds.

"I'm so glad I've made a friend here," she said. Then she walked to the dorm building and waved. He waved back.

For the second time that day he walked back to his frat house. Contrary to earlier that day he didn't feel happy, or rather, not quite happy. He didn't feel like racing at all, his mind kept pondering and he felt pensive, in a sad sort of way. He felt he needed some time alone to order his thoughts.

It was weird, he actually had to be happy, with Leta possibly loving him back and stuff, but instead, he felt anxious.

She said she would consider forgiving Javier, and that knocked over about all of his safe feelings about their chances for a relationship.

She could end up liking the blue bug, or worse, in a relationship with him!

He then shook his head. He shouldn't anticipate on things too much. First things first. He had to prepare for tomorrow's classes and not bother with unlikely scenarios.

Little did he know the most unlikely things still had a chance of happening.


End file.
